KCBX News

Monday through Friday during Morning Edition and All Things Considered

The award-winning KCBX Newsroom works to bring you local stories that represent our Central Coast listeners and supporters.

KCBX News began covering stories in February, 2014. The first on-air newscast happened during All Things Considered on March 3, 2014. KCBX added local news content to Morning Edition in September, 2014.

In the years since, KCBX News has had local stories featured on NPR and The California Report.

On Tuesday afternoon, members of the state agency that regulates utility companies held a public hearing on San Luis Obispo County's Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Four California Public Utilities Commissioners (CPUC) joined administrative law judge Peter V. Allen to hear final oral arguments in Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) request to retire California's last nuclear power plant.

California's 2017 wildfire season was the worst on record according to the state's firefighting agency. More than a half-million acres have burned so far this year, and unseasonably warm weather in Southern California is extending the fire season there.

Have you ever thought about a sticker being a piece of art? Most people don’t until they experience them on a deeper level, according to Maureen Vazquez, owner of Pipsticks, a sticker store she opened up earlier this year in San Luis Obispo.

Ever hear birds chirp and wonder if they’re talking to each other? Cognitive scientists at University of California at Merced can now answer that question, using a new method for sound analysis. And when they listened closely, they found that some animal speech patterns were a lot like our own.

Over the past two years, Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo has been working to develop a comprehensive Zero Waste program. Cal Poly has been acting under state mandates and California State University system policy to improve the consumer waste diversion rate - or the amount of consumer trash that goes to the local landfill.

After Monterey County voters approved Measure Z, a fracking ban and limit on other oil extraction processes, in November 2016, oil companies and royalty owners quickly filed six lawsuits against the county. Those have all been consolidated into one trial. Phase one began Monday.

Tuesday the California Coastal Commission issued an order turning private coastline into a mile-long public beach near Santa Barbara. The Commission sent an environmental cease, desist and restore order to the owners of the Cojo Jalama Ranches near Point Conception.

State routes 41 and 46 in San Luis Obispo County are notorious for their high number of traffic crashes and fatalities. Earlier this year, according to Central Coast state lawmaker Jordan Cunningham’s office, in the span of two months, six people were killed in crashes where the two highways meet.

A proposed new California State Parks cabin and campground project on the Central Coast is in the works. The site is located seven miles north of San Simeon, on an oceanside bluff west of Highway 1. State Parks wants to develop the project to provide more low-cost options for visitors, but the plan isn’t unanimously embraced by locals.

A judge’s decision issued Wednesday paves the way for the Diablo Canyon Power Plant to close in 2025, if that decision is ratified by the full California’s Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Seven months after hearings started in the proceeding, a CPUC administrative law judge issued a draft approval of Pacific Gas and Electric’s (PG&E) request to close the plant.

California announced new rules Tuesday for agricultural pesticide use near schools. The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) said the rules take effect on January 1, 2018. After that date, growers won’t be able to apply certain drift-prone pesticides to fields within a quarter mile of schools and day care centers during school hours.

It's a busy week in Central Coast local government, with Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara county supervisors meeting Tuesday with full agendas. It's also election day for Santa Barbara voters, who are deciding the city’s next mayor and city council members in Districts 4, 5, and 6.

According to the FBI, dozens of Central Coast residents were at the country music concert in Las Vegas targeted by a gunman on October 1, 2017. 58 people died and over 500 were injured. Since then, California counties have sought to locate victims to help them pay for psychological and medical therapy, and other costs.

In Santa Barbara, the city manager is tasked with overseeing the budget and running the day-to-day operations. But the mayor is the face of the city, and responsible for building coalitions that lead to effective city council votes and action. Santa Barbara voters are currently deciding who will be the city's next mayor.

This week in local government around the Central Coast: Camp 4; a new SLO county administrator; and a months-old agreement among San Luis Obispo County’s seven cities to join forces in building a new animal shelter has apparently disintegrated.

Customers of the water corporations California Water Services, Golden State Water Company and California-American Water may soon be seeing rate increases on their monthly bills. The three companies provide water to areas of Salinas, Monterey County, Los Osos and Santa Maria on the Central Coast, and all have asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to approve rate hikes.